Here's Where You Might Find This Year's Best Director Nominees on the Small Screen

It's common knowledge that big movie directors no longer shy away from television, and this year's Oscar nominees have been plotting their small screen maneuvers. Alexander Payne appears to be the only one without a project immediately in the works. Here's where you can get your auteurs in small doses.

David O. Russell

News broke late yesterday that the American Hustle helmer is going to serve as executive producer on a series that ABC has already picked up. The series, the story of which Russell co-wrote with Erin Brockovich writer Susannah Grant, is described as an "upstairs/downstairs soap centered on a private country club." After Hustle, which relished it chances to be soapy, that seems like a perfect fit for Russell.

Steve McQueen

The 12 Years a Slave director is working on a project in development at HBO about a young African American man in New York high society alongside the likes of Russell Simmons. The pilot, which McQueen will co-write and direct, was described in Deadline as "Six Degrees Of Separation meets Shame." McQueen also isn't the only 12 Years a Slave alum working on a television project. Screenwriter John Ridley's pilot American Crime got the go ahead from ABC.

Martin Scorsese

Scorsese, of course, is no stranger to TV. He's serves as an executive producer of Boardwalk Empire and directed the pilot. Scorsese is now working on a rock 'n' roll drama pilot with The Wolf of Wall Street writer (and Boardwalk creator) Terence Winter—and has been for a while. There is some momentum though, even though the tapped showrunners bowed out in October: Bobby Cannavale (who won an Emmy for Boardwalk Empire in September) is set to play the lead part of a record exec.

Alfonso Cuarón

Cuarón is the best director nominee who will hit the small screen the fastest. His NBC drama Believe, about a girl with special powers, is set to premiere March 10. Watch the trailer: